School sanitation and hygiene refers to the combination of hardware and software components that are necessary to produce a healthy school environment and to develop and/or support safe hygiene behaviours which can then be taken to society which children act as agents to behaviour change. The hardware components include drinking water, hand washing and sanitary facilities in and around the school compound, while the software components refer promotional activities to improve conditions at school and practices of school staff that help to prevent water and sanitation-related diseases.

Schools are where children learn knowledge and behaviors, and they have a crucial role in the process of community development. Schools can stimulate children for a behavior change. If there are adequate facilities for safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools, children as well as teachers can act as messengers for the society. This will influence the communities on the related issues while UN-HABITAT will be working closely with communities.

The aim of this Project is to build capacity of schools and communities in order to facilitate behavioural and attitudinal changes among children and communities and to promote better understanding of the critical roles that water conservation and environmental sanitation, among other things, play in human development and survivals. This intervention is envisaged to supplement the on going activities of improving the quality, reliability and coverage of water supply, wastewater and solid waste management services through other UN-HABITAT’s programmes in the same cities of Pakistan. Its general objectives are:
To raise awareness about water and environmental sanitation issues among teachers, school children and their parents;
To develop children as behavioural change agents in targeted schools;
To inculcate values for better water and environmental sanitation management through practical lessons and by encouraging collaborative activities;
To develop contextually and culturally appropriate Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials; and
To build up the capacities of teachers in Urdu medium schools to deliver environmental education as a co-curricular part of the syllabus.